Shopify Review

I recently applied for a few jobs. Yes I love working for myself and yes I am doing okay with it, but something washed over me a few weeks ago. Curiosity and loss of self-purpose, I think. So I got my website, resume and cover letter perfected and started applying. I wanted to see what was out there.

I got calls back from 3 of the 4 companies I applied for.

All of the companies used Shopify as their e-commerce platform for their clients. This baffled me. I was thinking I was going to be out of my league. All my experience has been with small startups and basic HTML and CSS. These were big digital agencies hired by corporations and they were doing the same things that I am doing.

I went home from the first interview and pulled up the source code for a lot of my favorite sites and surprised myself by finding that most of them were hosted by Shopify.

Yes, I am talking about custom Shopify sites, not templates, but still.

That why I decided that I should just stick to working for myself because I would rather make more money and work one on one with clients then work for a big company and just do what someone tells me the client wants.

Back to my Shopify review,

If you are going to have an online store/e-commerce platform then Shopify is the best tool out there. I am not going to go over the basics just the key points that make Shopify special from its competitors.

1. The app store. Shopify has an app store that is growing drastically. These apps are hosted by third-party software that makes it easy to integrate into your site. As the Shopify app store grows so does Shopify. I think this key factor is going to make this platform unstoppable. Some of the apps they offer are MailChimp, Bouncer, Boxify, TaxJar, SEO manager, QuickBooks Integration, and thousands more. In the near future, I believe it will feel as if they have an app for everything. Keep in mind, most apps cost a monthly fee. It is easy to rack up a big bill if you're not careful.

The app store can also be seen as a downfall because a few of the features that you have to get an app for are available for free on other site builders like Squarespace. So if you don't need a full fancy pants site then just go with Squarespace. If your planning on possibly expanding, Shopify all the way!

2. E-commerce P.O.S. system. Not much to say here besides the fact that they have one and it works and this is a major advantage over most of their competitors. I like SquareUp better. Their UX of on their platform is amazing, but their site builder is unmentionable. For Shopify P.O.S I have nothing major to complain about at the moment, but also nothing I'm specifically excited about either.

3. Easy printing package shipping labels. Type in each product's weight and size and you can pay for the shipping label right then and there. Print it out, tape it on and put it in the mail!

4. The Shopify mobile app. Get notified when you sell something and view site analytics on your mobile device. It's really convenient.

I know there are a lot of other points I could go over about shopify but those are the aspects of the platform that stand out to me.